The subject of historical accuracy just reared it’s head for me this weekend, so this blog post seemed rather appropriate. And I so agree with the answers or guidelines Anne Cleeland gives! Do you have questions about how far to go with historical accuracy?

Today’s guest is my writing ‘twin.’ I say that because we seem to do everything together; we got agents, sold, got our covers, and will release our debut novels, all within a month of each other! She’s an amazing author – remember, you heard of her here first!

Anne has agreed to give away an advance copy of her Regency novel, Tainted Angel , due out in June, to one lucky commenter! (is that a gorgeous cover, or what?)

Take it away, Anne!

I’d like to thank the great and mighty Laura Drake for allowing me this opportunity to introduce myself—thanks a million, Laura!

I have two series debuting this year, a historical fiction series and a contemporary mystery series. I’ve attended a few panels on the knotty problem of how accurate you have to be when writing historicals, so for those of you who read or write historical novels…

5 Responses to

I dislike historicals that cram in too much detail, like trying to involve all the characters with each and every defining event or popular movement of an era. That seems more like a forced history lesson, not a realistic story. I also hate historicals that turn out to be fluffy period pieces that could really take place anytime, with characters who come across more like contemporary people. I’ve encountered a couple of 1920s historicals lately that were like Gossip Girl in period clothes, and I just couldn’t get lost in the era with all these anachronistic characters and storylines.

I read one historical set in England in the 1100s where the author mentioned watching a Racoon. They are not native animals. Another time she mentioned gofers. Same thing. I follow this author on f b so I told her. She was pleased that I told her said she would have to correct it.

Those are important problems to be addressed. That would catch my attention certainly. I’m glad she was amenable to changing it. Some authors might not be. I remember researching particular trees to make sure they were indigious so that I could compare the heroine to shaking like an aspen leaf. 🙂 Thanks for coming by, petula.